Nicola Favretto

Postgraduate Student

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 35576
Email address: eenf@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 9.125

Biography

Qualifications

BSc in “Economics and Social Sciences“, Faculty of Economics, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy;

MSc in “International Economic Integration“, Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy.

Work experience

European Commission - Directorate General Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States, Brussels;

United Nations Development Programme, Environment and Energy Group, Bureau for Development Policies, New York.

Project Title

Jatropha curcas energy crop cultivation: policy and livelihood implications in Mali.

Supervisors

Dr. L. Stringer, Prof. A. Dougill

Funding

Full time University Research Scholarship (URS); Royal Geographical Society Dudley Stamp Memorial Award.

Start date

October 2009

Project outline

The opportunities and impacts of biofuels as a viable option for enhancing rural access to energy, substituting imported oil, reducing CO2 emissions and promoting sustainable development have attracted growing attention of policy, industry, NGOs and the academic research community. Further, biofuels have a number of important environmental and social implications that remain only partially studied and poorly understood. Great hopes have been pinned on the oil-bearing, “drought resistant” non-edible tree Jatropha curcas (Jatropha) to help alleviate energy demands, restore degraded ecosystem services in drylands, combat climate change and generate income in rural areas of developing countries. However, the Jatropha sector is still young, available research is often controversial and empirical analyses on the claims and potential impacts of this plant is largely lacking. In Mali, initial project activities have been undertaken in production, extraction, transformation, and utilization of Jatropha biofuel by different organisations with varying approaches and motivations including fossil fuels substitution, carbon credits commercialization and rural electrification. This research aims to assess the potential of the Malian National Strategy for Biofuel development to reach its targets and diversify livelihood strategies through the cultivation of Jatropha. Integrating both conventional and participatory research methods in four case study projects, this study will identify the key stakeholders and policies addressing Jatropha in Mali, explore its role in livelihood diversification, identify policy gaps and ascertain the socio-economic, organizational and policy conditions under which each group can reap sustainable outcomes from Jatropha development.